Coach Maddie and the Marine

by Edens, Blaire

  Andrew was engrossed in his book by the time she returned. She placed the snack on his nightstand. “I’ll be back to tuck you in later.”

  Thirty minutes later, after Andrew brushed his teeth, Maddie pulled the covers up to his chin. “Good night. I love you and your mom loves you.” She kissed him lightly on the head and ruffled his hair with her hand. “Sleep tight.”

  “Love you, too.”

  She turned to leave the room when he called her back.

  “Aunt Maddie?”

  “What is it, kiddo?”

  “Are you going to marry Lieutenant Sterling?”

  Chapter Five

  “Marry him?” Maddie asked. She narrowed her eyes. “Where did you get that idea?”

  Andrew stared at the floor. Then she realized exactly where he’d gotten that idea. He’d seen them kissing.

  “Were you, by any chance, spying on us earlier tonight?”

  Guilt washed over his face. “I wasn’t spying. Honest. I wasn’t. I was just coming inside to grab a drink of water and when I got to the top of the steps and went to open the door, I saw you.”

  Maddie sighed. “Sweetheart, just because people kiss, it doesn’t mean they’re getting married. I’ve only known him a few days. Who knows what might happen?”

  There was no way she could explain to Andrew that the kiss was only physical attraction, shared grief. Nothing more. Nothing serious.

  “I think you should marry him.”

  “It’s not that simple. It takes a long time to know someone well enough to decide whether or not you want to spend your entire life with them. Lieutenant Sterling and I just met.”

  There was no way she was going to explain the connection between David and his Uncle Frank, a man Andrew didn’t even remember. The only things he knew about him were things he’d been told.

  “If Mom had married my dad, he might still be around.”

  “Oh, Andrew,” Maddie said as she walked toward the bed. His eyes focused on the ceiling while he picked at a small thread on the comforter.

  “Your mom wanted to marry your dad. It’s just that,” she hesitated, took a moment to get her words just right, “your dad wasn’t ready to marry anyone. I know it must be difficult to see all the other kids with their dads. And with your mom away, I’m sure it’s even harder. But what happened between your mom and dad was just one of those adult things that’s really complicated and hard to explain.”

  Maddie’s heart shattered like glass when she saw the tears welling up in his brown puppy dog eyes. She sat down beside him and wrapped her arms around him. She didn’t know what else to say or do, so she simply held and rocked him while he cried.

  When the worst of the tears passed, she moved away a little.

  “Someday, either your mom or I will get married and you’ll have a man around that can play football with you and take you fishing and camping. I know it hurts, honey, but when you’re a little older, it’ll be easier to understand the things that happened between your mom and dad.”

  She hated that “someday, when you’re older” bit, but in this case, it was true. Callie had been madly in love with Rex, Andrew’s dad, but they were so young. And Rex, son of the richest businessman in town, let his mother bully him into breaking up with Callie. Maddie never doubted Rex loved Callie as much as she loved him. He was just a coward when it came to his mother. Other than sending the occasional card or package, Rex had nothing to do with his son.

  Andrew’s sniffling brought her back to the present.

  “Want to snuggle for a little while?”

  Andrew nodded and she kicked off her shoes. They both slipped under the covers and snuggled tightly together.

  “Do you want me to tell you a story to take your mind off things?”

  “Can there be dragons in it?”

  “If you want dragons, then dragons you shall have. Now close your eyes.” She began in a quiet voice, “Once upon a time, in a land far away, there was a young man who found a dragon hiding in the barn behind his house. It was a very small dragon…”

  ...

  Every song on the radio—no matter how many times he switched the channel—was a sappy love song.

  As much as he hated talk radio, with its trademark political venom, he was going to be forced to switch to it if the DJs didn’t give him a break soon.

  David couldn’t stop thinking about Maddie. The coppery fire of her curls, the sugary taste of sweet tea on her lips, the way she furrowed her brow when she changed from woman to counselor.

  He admired her restraint. When he’d been telling her about Robert, he’d seen her struggle with whether to treat him as a client or a friend. Thank God she’d opted for the latter. He couldn’t stand the idea of a counselor picking apart his feelings. He’d deal with his brother’s death in his own way.

  Meeting Maddie hadn’t been part of the plan.

  Being attracted to her was even further off the radar.

  He hadn’t planned to kiss her last night. Before he knew what was happening, his lips were on hers and for a moment, a tiny sliver of time, he’d forgotten. Forgotten the overwhelming crush of pain, forgotten his self-hatred at losing two men under his command.

  Forgotten that he was the reason Maddie was alone.

  He’d forgotten everything but the taste of her lips, the smell of her hair. When he kissed Maddie, the only thing in the world was her.

  He’d felt something, and that scared the hell out of him.

  He unlocked the door of his apartment, hung the uniforms he’d picked up at the dry cleaner’s in the closet and poured himself a generous glass of bourbon.

  ...

  On Friday, Tommy’s mom picked up Andrew. She was treating the boys to hamburgers and a matinee. Andrew wouldn’t be home until at least eight o’clock.

  Maddie was a little nervous. After the kiss, she wished Andrew was going to be home to put a barrier between the two of them. It couldn’t happen again.

  She wouldn’t let it.

  With less than an hour before David arrived for lesson number two, she intended to look as unattractive as possible. After a quick shower, she applied only moisturizer. No makeup. She wound her unruly curls into a tight bun and removed the glittering heart necklace that brought attention to her breasts.

  After thirty minutes in front of the bathroom mirror, a full ten minutes longer than it would have taken to apply her makeup if she were trying to look good, she hustled to her closet and tried to pick out the most unflattering thing she could find. She finally selected a loose cotton T-shirt spattered with a rainbow of paint stains and a pair of tattered cargo pants in olive drab.

  Nip the attraction in the bud. Once and for all.

  She’d be doing him a favor. Not to mention herself.

  Looking in the full-length mirror in her bedroom, she turned, checking to make sure the pants weren’t tight enough in the rump to draw any attention.

  She might be able to live without makeup, but fragrance was another story. She was spraying her favorite perfume on her neck and wrists when the doorbell rang. After one last look in the bathroom mirror, she headed for the front door.

  “Hey, there.”

  “Come on in,” she said, stepping back from the door.

  “I see you got all dressed up for me,” he said, looking her over. “How many houses have you painted in that shirt?”

  “Just my comfortable clothes. No reason to get dressed up just to learn football.”

  He winced, obviously disappointed. If she hadn’t been looking right at him, she would’ve missed it. “You wouldn’t have dressed like that on purpose to scare me off or anything, would you?”

  Oops. Busted.

  “What are you talking about? Of course not.” She laughed, hoping he didn’t hear the nervous edge.

  “The flaw in your plan was the perfume.”

  “What perfume?”

  He laughed. “What’s it called?”

  Maddie placed her hands on her hips. “It mu
st just be my soap.”

  He raised one eyebrow. “It’s not the soap.”

  Maddie huffed. “It’s called Rosewilde. I’m surprised you noticed. I didn’t put on very much at all.”

  “Noticed? A man would have to be dead not to pick up on a smell like that. I’m surprised you haven’t been approached by random men on the street.”

  Maddie giggled. “Who says I haven’t?”

  Something flashed across his face. It was tight, edgy. Could it be jealousy?

  “That ridiculous outfit, which, by the way, looks like something Lucille Ball might wear to fool Ricky Ricardo. It was kind of a dead giveaway.”

  “When I get ready for a new man in my life, I’ll wear something else.”

  There. She’d said it. Made it plain. Nothing more was going to happen between them. Only football.

  “Good to know.” He smiled. A tepid, fake half smile, half snarl.

  She hoped he hadn’t taken her declaration as a challenge, but the look on his face told her it was a distinct possibility.

  Whether he realized it or not, he wasn’t ready for a relationship either. Clinically speaking. He was too consumed by his brother’s death and the death of a man under his command. The first stages of grief had a way of turning a perfectly nice man into a terrible boyfriend. Maddie had seen it too many times to count in her work.

  He wanted her. She could tell by the way he drank her up with his eyes, the way he stood close to her, assumed a very protective stance when he was standing beside her.

  The silence was awkward.

  “Point taken.” His smile was genuine and she liked the way his dimples weren’t perfectly symmetrical. The one on the left was deeper than the other. “Ready for some football?”

  They settled on the couch and he cued up the game. Maddie dutifully picked her notebook up off the coffee table.

  “Today we’re going to work on offense. Let’s talk about each position and what they’re responsible for during the game.”

  As they talked, she kept good notes. She wanted to make this successful and she didn’t want to miss a single detail.

  After nearly an hour of discussion, David asked, “Now, what players play on the offensive side of the ball? Those are the players that are trying to score with the ball.”

  “Let’s see,” Maddie replied, looking at her notes. “Well, definitely the quarterback is an offensive player and then you have the offensive lineman, the center, the tight ends, the fullback, running backs, halfbacks…but what about guards and tackles? Couldn’t they be either?”

  “Good job, Maddie. Both the offense and the defense have guards and tackles. Sometimes it’s the same guys, sometimes it’s not. Just depends on the team. How does the offense line up at the line of scrimmage?”

  “Line of what? I know I’ve heard that word, but I’m not entirely sure what it means.”

  “It only means the line where the play starts.”

  “I’m not sure how they line up. But I did write down the numbers that are assigned to each position, so can you freeze a play so I can try to figure it out myself?”

  “Sure.” He paused the game on a close-up shot of the team’s offense.

  Maddie moved closer to the television, squinting to decipher the numbers on each of the jerseys. After a couple of minutes of scribbling down notes and mumbling to herself, she returned to the couch.

  “Let me draw it for you.” In her excitement, she sat too close to him. Her right leg was touching his. She tried to keep her focus and ignore the iron firmness of his thigh. As much as she wanted to draw back quickly, she feared it would make the situation more awkward. Bending over the notebook, she drew out a line of circles which she labeled with positions. Finished, she looked over her drawing one last time before she passed the notebook to David.

  “Perfect,” he said, once he’d checked her work.

  She made a move to scoot to her right, firmly back onto her side of the couch but he placed one large hand on her thigh.

  “I really admire your commitment to Andrew and this team.” His amber eyes sparkled and she felt those sparks again. She tried to ignore them but they were making her stomach feel strange. Bubbly.

  “Callie would do the same for me,” Maddie said. “I know she would. We’re more than just sisters. We’re best friends.” As soon as the words tumbled out of her mouth, she regretted them. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. It was very insensitive of me.”

  “It’s okay,” he said, patting her knee. “I’m glad you have Callie.”

  “Me, too.”

  The house was quiet. Too quiet. It was like being a teenager, alone in the house with a boy when you weren’t supposed to be. The silence grew. His hand was still on her knee and every skin cell on her body was conscious of his touch.

  “We should probably get back to football. Sorry I didn’t bring any gold stars to reward you.”

  “I can think of better rewards.”

  Oh, no. Why did I say that? The sentence just tumbled out of my mouth. What the hell was I thinking? Not ten minutes ago I rationalized all the reasons we shouldn’t be together and now I’m flirting.

  “Really? And what might those be?” he asked in his deep, husky voice. He raised one eyebrow and a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

  She had no idea what to say, where to take the conversation. With Andrew several houses away and not coming home anytime soon, she had to think of something. Fast. No more kissing. That was out. No more flirting.

  Maddie was stuck with him as her assistant coach for the whole season.

  The only thing she could think of was to put distance between them.

  “Doughnuts,” she said, rising from the sofa. “I’ll get them.”

  In the kitchen, she took her time putting them on a tray. To ease some of the tension, she shoved a powdered sugar doughnut in her mouth and chewed fast, then went back into the living room. The sugar rush smoothed the edges. A little, at least.

  He was flipping through a magazine when she placed the tray on the coffee table. “Want me to refill your iced tea?”

  He looked up at her and smiled. “You cheated.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  He rose so that he stood just a few inches from her. Maddie felt the heat coming off his body in waves. “You cheated,” he repeated. He ran his index finger along her cheek. “You ate a doughnut before you brought the rest out here. What if you ate the one I wanted?”

  Damn the powdered sugar.

  “I…”

  He opened his arms and Maddie felt herself being drawn toward him, like her movements were controlled by some strange tide. He pulled her into the circle of his arms.

  She relaxed against his chest, a wall of solid muscle.

  He leaned into her and brushed her lips with his. His smell, distinctly his and 100 percent masculine, was like a powerful drug. He tasted like the cool, lemony iced tea. Every cell in her body vibrated with attraction and anticipation. The desires she’d held in check for so long, first because she couldn’t imagine being with anyone other than Frank, and then because she was afraid to ever feel passion again, flared to life with an intensity she’d never known. Like throwing a flaming match in a pool of lighter fluid.

  When she ran her hand down the length of his muscular arms, he deepened the kiss and nibbled gently on her bottom lip, and the temperature of her blood rose even higher. Her skin felt hot and flushed, her clothes too tight and restrictive.

  He settled a hand on the back of her neck. “These curls are driving me crazy,” he growled as he loosened her bun and took a handful of hair in his hand and used it to pull her even closer to him. His lips were insistent now, drawing out the passion she’d hidden from herself for so long. “If I don’t stop now…”

  Slowly, he drew his mouth away from hers, giving her small kisses until there was space between them. “It was the powdered sugar. I couldn’t resist.”

  Maddie wasn’t sure she could form a
coherent sentence. Her head swam with the scent and the taste of him. “It’s okay,” she whispered.

  It was more than okay. It was fantastic.

  “Then maybe I’ll kiss you again.”

  His directness made the fire just below her stomach burn even hotter. Blue flames, now. He grabbed her waist and yanked her closer to him. When their lips met, every nerve in Maddie’s body shivered with the rush of him. Desperate longing swelled deep inside her and she began to take as much from him as he was taking from her.

  They explored each other as if this one kiss could slake the need that moved back and forth between them like lightning. When he finally pulled away, she wasn’t sure she would be able to stand on her own. Her lips were swollen with the kiss and her cheeks burned from the friction of his stubble.

  Maddie wanted the kiss to go on forever. But she knew it couldn’t. Knew it shouldn’t.

  “I didn’t plan to—”

  “I know,” she said. “I know.” She moved away and sat on the chair across the room from the sofa, desperate to put space between them. If she didn’t, she might not be able to stop herself from falling for him. That would be a total disaster. “I think that’s all the football I can take in one night.”

  “There’s still a lot more to cover. You’re doing great with the basics but don’t get too confident.”

  “That’s never going to be a worry.”

  He grinned. “See you on Sunday?”

  After he left Maddie slumped on the sofa. What in the hell had she been thinking? What had he been thinking?

  There was no way she could ever be with him. He had been Frank’s commanding officer. He was a marine.

  Off-limits.

  Maddie’s brain knew all those things but her body kept betraying her. It was as if he was some massive magnet drawing her closer and closer. As if she had no power to resist him.

  The kissing, and the flirting, had to stop.

  No two ways about it. He was her assistant coach. He signed up to help the kids because Frank couldn’t be here to do it himself. He was trying to make things right. He wasn’t looking for romance.

  Even if he were, she was the last person he needed in his life.